


Misadventures of the Backpack Leash

by Miss_Fallen



Series: Containing Steve Rogers [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers Does What He Wants, Steve Rogers is a little shit, it doesn't, the leash was supposed to stop him, this may or may not involve dragging you out of a plane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29856561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Fallen/pseuds/Miss_Fallen
Summary: That strap on Steve's back for the shield? Yeah, it has more than one purpose.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Series: Containing Steve Rogers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195079
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	Misadventures of the Backpack Leash

Steve knew there was another reason for the handle on the back of his uniform. He just didn’t think this would be it. Fury had a hold of the strap across his back, trying to keep Steve from leaving the lecture.

Well then.

Steve can work with this.

He turned and started walking, letting Fury get dragged behind him. If this is the hill he wants to die on, so be it, but Steve isn’t gonna make it easy. He ignored the looks of the agents he passed. This isn’t his problem. It’s Fury’s. If he wants to be seen getting dragged around like a deadweight, then so be it.

“Steven Grant Rogers, stop this shit and listen for five goddamn minutes!”

Steve pointedly did not stop. Actually, he sped up a bit. He wants to see how long Fury will hang on.

He hangs on for another hour. Steve goes up and downstairs, too, not stopping once in his quest to see what it took to shake Fury off. In the end, it was an emergency that needed his attention that tore him off Steve’s handle. Steve could admit it; he was pretty impressed.

“This isn’t finished, Captain.”

“Sure, it’s not Nick.” Steve scampered out as fast as he could, Fury’s shouting following him well into the hall.

The next time it happens is on a mission with the STRIKE team. He’s getting ready for the drop and is about to jump when he feels a weight on his back. He glances back to see what it is and snorts when he sees Rumlow’s hand on his back strap.

“You really gonna try this?”

“Gotta use a chute Cap, Fury’s orders.”

“Sure, just a second.” Steve jumps out of the plane with Rumlow still hanging on. He hits open air to the sound of Natasha’s laughter and the team’s shouts. Rumlow hasn’t started screaming yet, but it’s-oh! There it is! Guess his brain needed to register what was happening first.

Rumlow let go of Steve soon enough and pulls the cord on his chute. Steve continues down until he hits the water.

After the mission, Natasha pulls him aside, “What was that about?”

“Apparently, Fury thinks that by holding onto the strap across my back, he can stop me from doing things I evidently shouldn’t. He did it to me the other day, and I dragged him across HQ.”

“And if I were to do it?”

Steve thinks for a minute, “Well, I’d probably be more hesitant, might still do it, though.”

“Tell you what, I’ll give you a number between 1 and 10 if I ever grab you. If I say one and you do the thing, I won’t be too upset, a 10, and I will castrate you.” She says it with a straight face while she checks her nails for chips.

“Alright, I can go with that.” He pauses, “Have you seen the videos of Fury and me?”

“I haven’t, and that’s genuinely upsetting.”

Steve hands her his phone with the video pulled up.

The third time it happens, he’s got three Strike guys on his back.

This time, he laughs and starts digging his feet to drag them towards the open plane hatch anyway.

“Come on, Captain, please?” A new kid, young too. Steve stops for a minute.

“Let go kid, I’m having too much fun to stop now.”

The kid let go, and the other two panic when Steve makes a leap for the hatch. They stay on the plane but only just. 

Steve’s laughing the whole way down with Natasha’s cackles in his ear.

The fourth time it’s the Avengers that tries it. Clint and Tony, to be specific. They seem to think they’re different. As if he doesn’t haul Fury’s director ass around HQ on the weekly. Try him, see what happens. He goes with it at first, lets them think they’re safe. And then he coils as much power into his legs as he can and  _ leaps _ from the floor to the rafters above them.

Tony yelps and lets go at the first sign of a tug. Smart. Clint, well, Clint holds on until Steve’s gotten hold of a sturdy rafter rope and starts swinging around like a monkey. When Steve feels him begin to slip, he swings harder and aims for the couch. Clint goes careening into the sofa. There’s a snap and a lot of yelling.

God, this back strap is probably the most fun he’s had in ages! What were they thinking? Putting the equivalent of a backpack leash on a  _ super soldier _ , yeah, right, like that’d ever work as well as they wanted it to.

The fifth time it’s Natasha who grabs it. They’re at a social meeting, and Steve’s trying to slip out before someone gropes him again. He gets it; he has a nice ass; stop touching it!

“You’re at a five Steve, you wanna make it higher?”

“Wanna get perverts to stop grabbing my ass?”

“I will if you stop trying to escape.”

They stare each other down, Clint’s eyes bouncing between the two of them like a tennis match. They relent.

“Fine, but one more, and I am  _ gone _ .”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“Fine.”

“Shake?” Steve sticks out his hand and she takes it.

“Oh thank fuck.” They pretend not to hear Clint’s relieved whisper.

This is the first time this has happened. Steve’s never been stopped before. He stopped looking to see who’s grabbing him and just starts moving the second he feels them anymore. He looks back and sees Thor.

Well, that explains why he just tripped over himself. Thor’s about on par with him, probably a little stronger even. He could definitely stop Steve in his tracks.

“Any chance of you letting me go?”

“I am afraid not Steven. It is bad manners to leave your team in times like this.”

Times like this being another political meeting where Steve gets groped time and time again.

“Thor, they won’t stop groping me. Let me go.”

“Then ask them why and bring attention to it. Why do you think I do not get grabbed?”

Steve blinks, opens his mouth, closes it, and then “That makes sense.”

Thor nods and lets Steve go. “Next time I shall pick you up.”

“Please don’t.”

Tony made a goddamn  _ leash _ . An actual retractable fucking  _ leash _ . It hides beneath the hook for his shield and it’s got enough towing power to move a school bus. Steve can’t beat that as much as he has tried.

So he’s laying on the ground outside Fury’s office, staring at the ceiling while Fury chuckles behind him.

“What, you thought I’d just let you keep dragging me around HQ? I’ll give you your persistence is something else and you’re creative, but so am I Cap. Now listen up and I won’t have to repeat myself.”

This is the first and the only lecture Steve listens to. But only barely. He’s thinking of ways to stop people from grabbing that damned leash.

It happened again. Thor grabbed him and this time did exactly what he said he’d do next time. He’s got a hold of the strap and is holding Steve off the ground like a misbehaving toddler. Which, rude. He’s not even sure what he was running away from this time. 

“Steven, please stop standing near steep ledges.”

...That’s it? He’s standing too close to a steep ledge? Come on, that’s ridiculous. He knows it looks like he jumps off every cliff he comes across but he really doesn’t, honest!

“Thor, I wasn’t going to jump.”

“And you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

Steve was at a loss, had he really gotten such a reputation? Yeah, sure, he’s a little reckless and stubborn, he can admit that, but he’s not a complete idiot.

“If you put me down I’ll stay away from it, swear on my Ma’s grave.” Thor thought about it for a moment and nodded, setting Steve down gently. “You really thought I’d jump?”

“I have no doubt you would if you should need to. I do not think you would have this time, truthfully, but the others are watching and appeared rather twitchy. I do not think they liked how close you stood to the ledge.”

Steve sighed, “I know it looks like it, but I swear I don’t jump off every edge I come across. I’m not a complete idiot.”

“And I do not think you are either, our teammates seem overly worried. Mayhaps they forget you have different limitations than they do.” Thor paused, “Or they believe you overestimate yours.”

Steve hadn’t thought of that. He knew his limits though, war taught him those quickly enough. “I guess. I do know them though, war’s a harsh taskmaster.”

Thor nods, “And your war was some time ago for them, but hardly a few years for you, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, perhaps remind them of such things.” With his piece said and done, Thor walked off and left Steve thoughtful.

Bucky was back. Back, back, not just back from the supposed dead. He has his memories, old and new. He showed up at the Tower last night and hid in the vents until Clint found him the next afternoon.

Who knew Clint’s voice could get so high?

Anyway! Steve’s excitement was palpable, practically visible as Bucky came up to him. What he wasn’t expecting, though he really should have, was the hard slap across the back of his head.

“You’re a goddamn punk Rogers, you know that? I was dead for a month and what? Any sense of your self-preservation went with me? I’ve seen your reports since coming outta the ice dumbass! I am not impressed!” Steve started backing away, he was happy to see Bucky, but this is  _ not _ what he wants to hear right now as much as he really should have expected it.

He was stopped by. That. Goddamn. Leash! He just got in from a mission and hadn’t taken his uniform off yet and this is what he gets for it.

“Oh no you fucking don’t! I have words for you Steven Grant, and you’re sure as shit gonna hear ‘em!”

And thus, Steve got stuck listening to his best guy give him the lecture of the century for the next hour.

(The others also weren’t expecting this from the famed Winter Soldier or even James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes. This guy definitely had Steve’s number though, especially if he’s been “watching your skinny punk-ass for 20 goddamn years.” He’s gonna make a great addition.”)

Low and behold, he really did make a fantastic addition to the team. One, with his metal arm and serum, he could easily keep hold of Steve and stop him from wandering or jumping when he wasn’t supposed to. Two, he knew Steve like the back of his hand and probably had a sixth sense for the guy. He doesn’t have to have Steve in his line of sight to know when he’s doing something he’s not supposed to. IE; jumping without a chute, skipping medical, slinking out of important meetings, etc. It’s impressive. And Fury’s voice even got a rest, Bucky takes care of any yelling or lectures needed.

He freely uses the backpack leash and manages to get a hold of it even when Steve pulls his most evasive maneuvers that even Natasha has issues keeping up with. But that’s not the most impressive thing. No, that goes to his ability to stop Steve with a single look. Fury saw it happen and Hill swears to any deity out there that she watched the man cry and beg Bucky to teach him his ways. The lower-level agents don’t believe it, but the people who regularly saw him get dragged around by Captain Rogers while giving him a lecture believe it. Everyone knew it’s damn near impossible to get Rogers to listen to a lecture and here this guy goes doing that with a single raised eyebrow!

(There may or may not be a group forming to (respectfully) worship one James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes. Fury may or may not be a part of it with Hill and Coulson.)

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun with this. There are multiple images of Steve with some sort of leash, and they're all a riot. I highly recommend looking them up. Steve will 100% drag Fury around if given a chance, and he will 200% drag Rumlow out of a plane.


End file.
